Morpho-physiological evaluation of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) genotypes in acidic soil

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the experimental field of the Department of Crop Botany and Tea Production Technology, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh during July-December, 2013 to evaluate the morphological attributes and yield performances of nine genotypes of sweet potato in acidic soil. Among the genotypes, seven were Japanese viz. JSP-1, JSP-2, JSP-3, JSP-4, JSP-5, JSP-6, JSP-7 and two were Bangladeshi like BARI SP-7 and BARI SP-9. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results revealed that the genotypes varied considerably in the morphological characters at all growth stages and yield attributing characters. Among all the genotypes, the highest number (6.53), length (10.80 cm), diameter (3.35 cm) and yield (22.83 t ha-1) of storage root was recorded in BARI SP-7 followed by JSP-3 which was 5.35, 9.67 cm, 3.28 cm and 20.96 t ha-1, respectively. On the other hand, BARI SP-9 showed the longest vine length, highest vine number plant1 which were 298.7 cm and 6.60, respectively but yield was third highest amounting 19.37 t ha-1. All the Japanese varieties except JSP-3 were not suitable for the acidic soil condition of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Therefore, the genotypes BARI SP-7 and JSP-3 were found suitable for their better growth and yield performance in acidic soils.